TIJUANA  After nearly three years of doing battle with organized crime, Tijuana's 2,000-member municipal police force is preparing to change its focus, Mayor Jorge Ramos said Monday.

“Without letting down our guard in the matter of organized crime,” the mayor said, “the task is now common crime committed in the colonias,” or neighborhoods.

Ramos made his remarks at the opening of the city’s new $7.4-million police command center near the Otay Mesa border crossing.

Ramos, who ends his three-year term on Nov. 30th, said organized crime was the priority he came into office because “organized crime is the protector of common crime.”

The opening of the 86,000-square foot facility will allow the police to vacate the cramped and antiquated downtown offices known as Calle Ocho. The new location will offer greater protection for the Mesa de Otay industrial district, Ramos said, and provide faster access to the rest of Tijuana.

The mayor and invited speakers used the occasion to praise the director of the city’s police force, Lt. Col. Julian Leyzaola, whom they credited with working to cleanse the department of corrupt officers.

“In very little time, people now see you with more respect, with admiration, and with gratitude,” Fernando Otanez, president of the Business Coordinating Council, said about the police force.